(Update: For details of what’s new with Roto Brush and Refine Edge in After Effects CC (12.0), see this page.)

Everyone’s talking about the Roto Brush tool and Refine Matte effect. As well they should. These features are terrific. I had been working on the Roto Brush tool, doing my part to test it and give design feedback as I documented it… but it wasn’t until I had to actually use it to do a real compositing job that I thought “Whoa. That was really fast, really easy, and much better than I’ve ever done with conventional rotoscoping.”